Requirement

The Southern Field Development phase of the In-Salah Gas project in Algeria required the provision of substation buildings to provide power for the central processing facility and for the main camp occupied by personnel working on the site. The In-Salah Gas project is a joint venture between Sonatrach, BP and Statoil.

Solution

Schneider was appointed to provide the necessary switchgear, and Portastor was brought in to design, engineer and manufacture the packaged substations required for this phase of development.
These buildings included various designs, ranging from single-piece buildings measuring up to 30m x 6m through to large multi-module buildings measuring up to 40m x 10m. These were assembled in York for full fitting out with all electrical and instrumentation systems, including switchgear, transformers, control and safety systems, all housed in separate rooms. Portastor also fitted all power, lighting, HVAC and fire-suppression systems.
The HVAC systems had to be designed to meet extremely onerous specifications to ensure the buildings provided optimum working conditions in a desert environment where daytime temperatures could reach more than 50°C. The buildings also had to be blast resistant to 196mb, and meet low-response criteria.
Portastor supplied all support structures for these buildings, and supervised the installation on site in Algeria. The multi-module buildings were reassembled on site and sealed to provide a completely dust-free, pressurised environment for the sensitive switchgear and control equipment.